Favourite Movies: 2. Speed

This was the movie that accentuated to me, what Action movies were all about. Filmed in 1994, and directed by Jan De Bont, who is usually a Director Of Photography or DOP, in most of the movies he was involved in.
  The movie starred, Keanu Reeves, who is probably the only A list actor in the US, was born in Lebanon. He plays Officer Jack Traven, who has to deal with a deranged terrorist, Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper) , who frustrated by the failure of his earlier attempts at mayhem, plants a bomb, on a School bus, and rigs it in such a manner, that if the bus goes below 50mph, it will detonate. Now the usual driver of that particular bus, is Anne Porter (Sandra Bullock), who through the years she has more then earned her place in movie history particularly in recent times with movies such as 'Blindside' and the superb Sci-fi  movie 'Gravity' with George Clooney. With her role in 'Speed', she is called upon to be  courageous, and drive the bus, whilst chaos surrounds her.
  Amongst the many action sequences, is when Jack, drives his car as if his life depends on it....and it does.
  This to me is one of the late Dennis Hopper's greatest roles. all menacing and maniacal.

My 10 Favourite Movies : 1. Forrest Gump

In my more recent years watching Movies, I began to rate my most favourite films up to or should I say down to my least favourite. Top spot goes to Forrest Gump, for It's time one of the cleverest films of all time.
  Now as I've said in a previous post, I said that Tom Hank's is my favourite actor, and in this movie, delivers an Oscar worthy role from start to finish. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, with an amazing cast including Robyn Wright, and Gary Sinise, an actor who I had never seen before, were all part of movie history that seemed to span a generation or more. Starting with Forrest as a small boy, whose Mother ran a Boarding house, there was just the two of them. Forrest was a special boy, who had Physical difficulties, which he miraculously recovered from, to join the US Army in Vietnam, and receive a Medal, for bravery,  which is presented to him by President Johnson.
  We see Forrest, playing Table Tennis, a sport which he possessed an uncanny ability. During these amazing events, he meets a young lady, Jenny, who he becomes more then friendly with. In his lack of understanding, he doesn't realise she is sick, as it turns out she has acquired AIDS.
   Through the time span of this movie, we have a splendid Soundtrack that  parallels the era, and this helps to make this movie  a Masterpiece for all times.

'Monument's Men.......a review.

During the final years of World War 2, the Allied forces, were encircling Berlin, and getting prepared for the endgame. U.S President Rooseveldt,  set up a group of men all in the Military, but in their previous occupations Museum Curators, Art History lecturers & Antique dealers, were assembled to travel to Europe, and in particular Germany to retrieve stolen works of art by some of the greatest Artists and Sculptors known to man.

  This amazing story was portrayed in a book called 'Monument's Men by Robert M. Edsel, and in 2014, made into a movie, Directed by and starring George Clooney. In the film, he plays Frank Stokes, who is to take command of this multinational unit. This movie had an amazing cast including Matt Damon, John Goodman and the brilliant Cate Blanchett, whom I consider the best Actress along side Meryl Streep. A surprise inclusion was Hugh Bonneville, in a sabbatical from playing Lord Grantham in TV's 'Downton Abbey. His character, Donald Jeffries, main mission it seemed was to find  a sculpture known as the ' Bruge Madonna & Child by Michaelangelo, which was and now is found in the 'Church Of Our Lady' in Bruge, Belgium. Donald had an almost emotional attachment to the Sculpture, and he was going to retrieve it no matter what. The movie progressed at a steady pace, and the caricatures of the Germans was amusing, either hideous and maniacal or grotesquely obese as in Hermann Goering, who was attempting to create the single largest private art collection in history.
  These group of Men should forever be commended for their work, as for the generations since the end of the war, people have been able to view most of the works that could very well have been lost.

  
 

Saving Mr Banks.... a review.

Nearly everybody from the 1950's onwards, will know the name Walt Disney, a name that conjures up all sorts of magical memories in my mind. All the cartoon characters from the mischievous Tinkerbell to Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, and all the others that were too many to mention.
    When Walt's daughters, Diane & Sharon, were young, their favourite books were the 'Mary Poppins' series of books, by British/Australian Author, P.L Travers. The books dealt with the titular character, who was a fictional Housekeeper in London during the years prior to WWI. She possessed magical powers, such as an Umbrella which gave her the ability to fly. She gets a job with the Banks family Father Bert, a Chimneysweep, and his children Jane & Michael. This would be the premise for the movie released in 1964
  In 2013, 'Saving Mr Banks', deals with the strenuous negotiations between Walt Disney and PL Travers, to secure the rights of her books, with the view to making a  movie of 'Mary Poppins'. On their first meeting in California, Walt is taken back by Travers's unfriendly and curt manner, she had the demeanour of a School Headmistress. She disliked any of his ideas, and was highly scornful of Disneyland, and all it represents.
    Through the movie, we're shown glimpses of PL 'Pamela' Travers's childhood with a father who she adores, he sadly dies with excessive Alcohol consumption, when she is young. We are lead to believe the idea for Mary Poppins came from a Housekeeper Aunt Ellie, in the Travers's household.
    In conclusion the actors chosen for the Roles Tom Hanks as Walt, he was sublime. Emma Thompson, as Miss Travers, and Aussie actress Rachel Griffith's as 'Aunt Ellie. Also worthy of mention was Paul Giamatti, who was Miss Travers' driver. This movie deserved more awards then what it got.   4 stars.

 
 
 

My Favourite Actors: 2. Tom Hanks, an actor for the ages.

I've admired Tom Hanks for a long time, and having watched his movies over the past few decades, he seems to have held on to what he believes in and not in any way sold out, despite all the other movie genres he might have chosen.

  From having a love affair with a Mermaid, as he did with Daryl Hannah in 'Splash, to being the Commander of Apollo 13, Hanks has shown his liking of roles that show that he is multi talented, whether it be light hearted 'Big' or poignant as in 'Forrest Gump and heroic as he was in 'Saving Private Ryan, his star is still in an upward climb.

 His role as Andrew Beckett in 'Philadelphia, where he played an AIDS sufferer unjustly fired from the legal firm where he worked, only to find the Lawyer representing him in his law suit against his former employers is Homophobic.

 In recent times Hank's has played in movies that have interested me, and they were ' Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close', the 2011 film dealing with the story of a man who is killed in one of the towers in the World Trade Centre in 9/11.
 
  Then in 2013, he played Captain Richard Phillips, in the titular role of USS Alabama, hijacked off the coast of Somalia.

 And in his most recent film, TH, played Walt Disney in 'Saving Mr Banks' in 1964, when he was having negotiations, with P.T Travers, the author of  the 'Mary Poppins' series books, with the plan to make  a movie, and the problems that arose,